Billionaire Tom Steyer Officially Qualifies for December Debate

Democratic presidential hopeful, US philanthropist, Tom Steyer speaks at the California De
CHRIS CARLSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Tom Steyer (D), one of the two billionaires running in the Democrat presidential primary race, has qualified for the December debate.

Steyer has qualified for the Politico and PBS NewsHour-hosted Democrat debate, slated for December 19 in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

In order to qualify, a candidate must garner four percent support in four Democratic National Committee (DNC) approved polls or six percent in two early state polls.

Additionally, the presidential hopeful must report contributions from at least 200,000 donors — a qualification Steyer’s campaign matched on Tuesday. Only six others have qualified thus far: Joe Biden (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA),  and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Candidates have until December 12 to qualify. Both Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Andrew Yang (D) are one poll away from making it onto the debate stage, according to Politico.

Despite his qualification, Steyer has largely failed to garner significant support nationally. The current RealClearPolitics average shows the presidential hopeful in tenth place with less than two percent support.

By contrast, his fellow billionaire competitor, Michael Bloomberg — who will not participate in any DNC debates due to his decision to self-fund his primary bid, making it impossible to reach a 200,000 donor threshold — is already leading him in the polls despite his controversial Super Tuesday strategy.

A Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday showed the former New York City mayor coming in fifth place, leading the lower tier of candidates with six percent support. The same poll showed Steyer tied with Harris, Klobuchar, Yang, and Julián Castro (D) with two percent support each:

Steyer recently made headlines after reports surfaced indicating that his campaign purchased www.keepamericagreat.com, which takes users to a page selling a $1 bumper sticker reading, “Trump is a fraud & a failure.”

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